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Blessing of the Waves merges spirituality, surfing at beach

October 13, 2012 | 10:25
am

Surfing luminaries and religious figures will converge in Huntington beach on Sunday for an unusual event.

At the fifth annual
Blessing of the Waves, an interfaith service sponsored by the Diocese of
Orange, Tom Morey — the inventor of the Boogie Board — will represent
the Baha'i Faith. Singer-songwriter Summer Watson, who has toured
California and Hawaii to promote the Toes on the Nose clothing brand,
will play a solo acoustic set.

And Dean
Torrence of Jan & Dean — whose song "Surf City" gave Huntington
Beach its official nickname — has recorded an audio greeting to help
publicize the event and plans to attend for the fifth year in a row.

When
the songs and speeches are all done, the crowd will stand at the
water's edge to sing a final song: "God Bless America." Then, anyone
who's willing will paddle out into the blue, immersing themselves in the
body that's given Southern California a key to so much of its culture.

"It's
a way of getting together once a year and saying, 'Thank you for this
amazing resource,'" said Dan McCue, a spokesman for the diocese, who
stressed that the event is intended for anyone who feels a spiritual
connection to the ocean and not merely surfers.

His group, he
said, got the idea for the event from a simple phenomenon: Over and over
again, they noticed beachgoers standing by the waterline in the morning
holding hands before the waves. The diocese summoned local leaders from
several faiths, and the first annual event in 2008 drew about 400
people.

Since then, the crowds have grown to more than 2,000.
Among those expected to attend this year are representatives from the
Sikh, Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Zoroastrian communities.

Keeping
with the ceremony's interfaith theme, McCue assembled an eclectic
lineup of musical acts this year. In addition to Watson, who will
perform work from her new album, "Something New," the program features a
Pacific Islander choir based out of St. Justin Martyr Roman Catholic
Church in Anaheim and the Christian rock band Tim Reid & Friends.

The
choir, led by Leo Taulanga, includes more than two dozen members who
hail largely from Tonga and Samoa. McCue first invited them to join the blessing two years ago after a tsunami blighted their home countries,
and they proved so popular that he's asked them back every year since.

Taulanga,
one of whose fellow choir members lost a family member in the tsunami,
said the dangerous side of the ocean gives the blessing an added layer
of meaning.

"When we sing a song, it's a prayer," he said. "In
prayer, we're asking for protection of God for people who are in the
ocean — not just the surfing people but those who are fishing, those who
are swimming."

Torrence, whose recorded greeting was sent by
email and posted on Facebook and Surfline.com, said he didn't expect to
perform but would do so if asked. He added, though, that he would
decline the paddle out.

"The water's much too cold for me," Torrence said. "In Hawaii, I'd get in the water, but [here] I usually just show up."